The move away from traditional VCs to Angels features strongly in talk about startup investment. So this seemingly contrary view from the very heart of Silicon Valley is intriguing

If you’re like me, you probably watch way too many videos about startup investment from the (vibrant) angel investor side, where the VC scene usually gets ‘talked down’. That makes it all the more important to regularly check in on the other side of the tracks, and see just how different the picture looks from the VC perspective, menacing storm clouds notwithstanding.

Steve Bengston of PriceWaterHouseCoopers starts at 2:55

This isn’t just a “VC side thing” (Aydin Senkut, for instance, is seen as a “Super Angel”)

Here’s the intro to the session:

The beginning of 2011 saw very strong growth in the level and strength of early stage financings, a trend which has continued throughout the year.

2011 is being viewed by some as the year of the founder/entrepreneur and by others as the year of the “tech bubble” and excess valuations.

Against this backdrop, the VC industry is undergoing profound changes and seed/angel funds have become more active than ever before.

The panel of expert angel and venture capital investors took a look at early stage investing during the past year and what the future investment environment holds.

He also counseled Naxon Corporation (Wineshopper.com) on its acquisition of Wine.com, Inc., Ingenio, Inc. on its acquisition by AT&T Yellow Pages, Junglee Corp.

on its $300 million acquisition by Amazon.com, Inc., and Blue Lava Wireless on its $140 million acquisition by JAMDAT Mobile.

Howard Hartenbaum joined August Capital in 2008.

Prior to joining, he served as a General Partner at Draper Richards LP where he was the founding investor in Skype and a former member of the board of directors where his achievement resulted in his joining the Forbes Midas List of top venture capitalists.

Before entering the venture capital field, Howard was at Hughes Electronics, where he was responsible for supporting business development, marketing and sales of satellite, information security and automotive technologies developed by HRL Laboratories.

He also worked in engineering positions in ergonomics and user experience at Honda Motor Company and manufacturing at Teledyne Relays.

Joe Kraus has been with Google Ventures since 2009

His primary areas of focus are mobile, gaming, and local services.

Prior to Google Ventures, Joe was a two-time entrepreneur.

In 1993, he co-founded Excite.com, an early Internet search engine, holding multiple positions in the company, including leadership roles in product, business development, and marketing.

More recently, he co-founded JotSpot in 2004, a wiki company that was acquired by Google in 2006.